Mims Previews the East Coast Gaming Congress Coming to Atlantic City, Regarding Esports, Online Gaming, Overwatch League

In anticipation of the East Coast Gaming Congress being held at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City Wednesday and Thursday, I felt this would be a good time to look at Esports and Online Gaming. These are two growth areas for gaming enthusiasts. (You can see a full schedule of events here.)

Esports will take center stage with the Overwatch League having its championship in Philadelphia this fall. Last year, this event was held in New York City at the Barclays Center. More than 300,000 watched on Twitch & YouTube while the two-day attendance was listed at over 20,000 people.

The Philadelphia Fusion were participants in the championship. If they can return this would boost the attendance. The league is moving toward a regional approach and hopes to accomplish this by 2020 or 2021. This would coincide with Comcast Esports Arena being complete and open to the public.

Online Gaming is now part of the landscape in Pennsylvania. It is limited to sports betting right now. But once the regulations allow for the expansion into table games and poker, there are limitless opportunities for revenue. If you are interested in becoming an affiliate that directs business to an operator or a game developer that is trying to introduce a game to a platform provider, then the online space is for you. New Jersey has this in place and is an excellence model to emulate. This will expand exponentially with compacting agreements between states.

The East Coast Gaming Congress will have panel sessions devoted to Esports and Online Gaming. If you are attending and have limited knowledge about either subject, you should attend both.

I plan to tweet and write about both. I will use the hashtag #ECGC23. I look forward to seeing at the Pool after Dark.